Bluegrass Undercover (Bluegrass Brothers)

said she was protecting you? From a kid?”
    “Yup, she said she didn’t think I was able to protect myself. I couldn’t believe it.” Cade shot him a glare as he started laughing. “Stop laughing, Marsh. It, um, gets worse.” Cade ran a hand over his face, embarrassed to tell him the rest.
    “How could it get worse?” Marshall said between chuckles.
    “She identified the problem with my quarterback on the pass plays in under a minute.” Cade hung his head as Marshall’s chuckles turned into laughter.
    Cade took another drink of beer, but he had a feeling that it did not matter how much he drank, Annie Hill had taken up permanent residence in his mind.
     
    Annie tossed her car keys onto the small, worn kitchen table and carried the bag of frozen dinners to the freezer. She needed to hurry and check in with her boss. She should have done it yesterday, but she kept putting it off.
    She jammed the meals into the small freezer and dug out her cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans. She scrolled through her emails until she found Special Agent Romero’s phone number.
    “Romero,” her boss barked into the phone.
    “Hi, sir, this is Agent Blake checking in.”
    “About time. Welcome to Kentucky. We need to set up an appointment to meet in person. I think…” Annie about jumped out of the chair when she heard the knock at the door. It must be Father James . She didn’t know anyone else.
    “I’ m sorry, sir. Can you hang on?” She waited until he grunted his approval and went to the door. She opened the door and stood staring at a woman dressed perfectly in black trousers, and a pink button-up blouse accessorized with a casserole dish.
    “Hiya! I’ m Pam Gilbert, the PTA President,” she said as she smiled at Annie and held out the casserole dish. “I wanted to welcome you to town on behalf of all the parents.” Annie took the dish in her hands and stared at it. Homemade food? She couldn’t remember the last time she had homemade food.
    “Thank you, Pam. It’s nice to meet you.”
    “Well, I won’t keep you, but if you need anything just give me a shout.” Pam gave a little finger wave and went back to her minivan.
    “Blake!” Annie shook her head as she watched the minivan with the Dale Junior sticker on the back window, next to the white stick figures of a dad, mom, and two boys, peel out of the church parking lot.
    “Sorry, sir. Just meeting the locals.” Annie closed the door and headed to put the casserole into the freezer.
    “As I was saying, I was hoping we could meet in person on…” Annie pivoted in the small entryway when the doorbell rang. “Was that the doorbell?”
    “Yeah, sorry. Hold on for just a sec.” Annie balanced the casserole dish on her hip and the phone on her shoulder as she opened the door. She looked out and then down to a trio of white-haired ladies.
    “Hello, dear. We’re the Rose sisters. I’m Lily Rae. This is my sister Daisy Mae.” The leader bobbed her head toward the thin, wiry looking sister with her silver hair pulled back into a tight bun, with a couple pencils poking out of it. Annie realized that she had seen when she had driven past the Café. “And this is Violet Fae.” The small, round woman grabbed her around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug that had the casserole dish teetering and the cell phone coming close to getting lost in Violet’s puffy cleavage.
    “Bless your heart – you are a skinny thing! Thank goodness we brought you some food. You must be starving!” Violet clucked as she looked Annie over.
    “Thank you for the food. Someone named Pam just dropped off a casserole. This is all very nice of you.”
    “Dang it! Pam beat us here. We’ll never hear the end of it.” Daisy shook her head and shifted the large basket hanging at the crook of her arm.
    “But I bet she didn’t stay to give her a proper welcome. She had to pick the boys up from soccer practice,” Lily pronounced. “We won’t run out on you so quickly. Come and sit for a spell and we’ll get know one another.” The sisters pushed past her and into the small kitchen before Annie could stop them.
    “I’m sorry,” she said as she trailed after them. “I do not mean to be rude, but I’m on the phone.” Annie paused at the kitchen and watched as they looked around.
    “That’s okay, dear. Give us that casserole and we’ll just put the food away. I’m sure you want to finish your call with your…boyfriend?” Lily asked as she reached